St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran Church
Friends,
Grace and peace be with you all.
I was disappointed that only one person came to the Bible Study on The Way of Love, A Study of First John. (One other person told me that they planned to attend but put the wrong starting date on their calendar.) The lack of interest raised several questions for me:
• Was it the time?
• Was it the topic?
• Was it the method of learning?
• Was it the teacher?
• Did I hear God wrong?
It was disappointing for two reasons. First, I love engaging in the study of the Scriptures with other people. There are such wisdom and truth in the Scriptures that help me discover the way to live, but I am hindered by my own experiences and my previous teachers. I view the Scriptures through my personal lens. So, when I am with others, particularly those who understand it differently than I do, it forces me to examine my presuppositions and discover why I interpret the Scriptures the way I do. We interpretation of the Scriptures, therefore, becomes broader and more expansive.
Secondly, and more importantly, God has been teaching me to observe what God is doing and then go and participate where God is in action. None of us are called to follow our own agenda, but God calls all of us to follow Jesus. Oftentimes, God calls us to do something totally new and something that we think is totally beyond our skill set.
For example, God called Abram to go and sent him out with God’s blessing to be a blessing. Yet, God gave Abram no more direction of where he was to go. Just to go. God called David to be king when David’s skill set was being a shepherd. God called Mary to birth and raise the son of God when Mary was just an ordinary teenager. God called Paul, the ultimate expert in Jewish law, to be the preacher to the non-Jewish people, the Gentiles. Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John, and the rest of the disciples to follow him to the cross and beyond.
Our church mottos is Be God’s Grace in Action. We presuppose that God is doing God’s work in our community and the world. We presuppose that whatever God is doing is through a spirit of grace, for love is the essence of who God is and how God transforms the world. We presuppose that whatever God is doing, God invites us to participate in it as well. So, the deep question remains:
What is God doing and where am I being called to join in?
Peace
Pastor Doug
